Cushing General Hospital

In 1944, the U.S. War Department built a hospital and convalescent center for New England soldiers of World War II. The Chestnut Hill Garden Club sprung into action to help provide horticultural rehabilitation for the veterans. This Founders Fund Award sponsored a garden pit (also called the Sunken Garden) which had three goals: bedridden and neuro-surgical cases received flowers and plants from the garden, those well enough worked and enjoyed the pit when weather allowed and those strong enough assisted in the daily care of plants. This horticultural therapy worked as a rehabilitation program for men wounded in body and spirit in the war.

Named for the “father of modern neurosurgery” Harvey Cushing, this hospital had a capacity of 1,800 beds making it the largest hospital to be housed under one roof in Massachusetts. It existed for two years exclusively for the US Medical Corps when the State of Massachusetts took it over and reduced its bed capacity to 600. In the 1990’s the hospital was torn down except for the Cushing Chapel which is the only original structure remaining. Currently, the public outdoor space Cushing Memorial Park exists where the hospital buildings once stood.